[0:13] I will call to order the September 8th,

[0:15] 2026 uh town council meeting to order.

[0:18] If you could please stand for the pledge

[0:19] of allegiance and moment of silence.

[0:24] To the flag of the United States of

[0:26] America and to the republic for which it

[0:29] stands. One nation under God,

[0:33] indivisible, with liberty and justice

[0:35] for all.

[0:42] Thank you.

[0:47] We have no proclamations or

[0:49] presentations tonight. So that brings us

[0:51] to public petition uh public petitions.

[0:54] Uh and as a reminder, this first session

[0:57] is with a threem minute limit. Um if you

[0:58] could just provide your name and address

[1:00] uh if you'd like to participate and I

[1:02] will start in the room and invite anyone

[1:04] to come to the table if they would like

[1:06] to

[1:14] Nelson 206 Anderson Road.

[1:19] Uh this is regarding the new business

[1:21] agenda item 8.2 consideration of a

[1:23] resolution to adopt proposed town

[1:25] naming.

[1:27] When Talent considers a policy for

[1:29] naming Talin owned public use areas, I

[1:32] believe we need to start with one simple

[1:33] principle. The name should have a

[1:35] meaningful connection to the place being

[1:36] named. And we need only look at Taland's

[1:39] own history, not neighboring towns,

[1:41] other states or national trends.

[1:44] Connection should come first and

[1:45] foremost. Talent has been here since

[1:48] 1715

[1:50] and for more than 300 years areas have

[1:52] been names rooted in our history, our

[1:54] land and people who have been part of

[1:55] our community. People whose lives or

[1:58] contributions have a meaningful

[1:59] connection to the particular place being

[2:01] named.

[2:03] The town has purchased areas of land and

[2:05] some of those names reflect the longtime

[2:07] stewards of that land such as the CW

[2:09] loose loose conservation area. Residents

[2:12] have also donated land to the town that

[2:15] became conservation areas, hiking

[2:16] trails, parks, and other places like

[2:18] Crandles. Names like Sumar's Pond and

[2:21] Skunkamog also reflect Talland's history

[2:23] and connection to the land, including

[2:25] our Native American heritage.

[2:28] I think of my first grade principal,

[2:30] Donald Parker, who spent 18 years in the

[2:32] Talland school system. After his

[2:34] untimely death in 1973,

[2:37] Metobrook Elementary School, where I

[2:39] went to first grade, became Parker

[2:40] Memorial. I was six years old but I

[2:43] still remember him. That names mean that

[2:46] name means something because Mr. Parker

[2:48] was connected to that school and

[2:50] generations of talent children. It told

[2:52] a story. I'm sorry my foot is to stand

[2:55] up. That is the standard we should

[2:58] preserve. I also believe politicians

[3:00] should not be considered for naming town

[3:02] own public places. These places belong

[3:04] to everyone and their name should unite

[3:06] us and reflect Talland's history. There

[3:08] are other ways to honor deserving

[3:10] individuals such as scholarships,

[3:12] fundraisers, memorial plaques, or

[3:14] dedicating a room or smaller area rather

[3:16] than naming a large building or public

[3:18] area after someone with no direct

[3:20] connection to that place. Before

[3:23] adopting a policy, I believe we should

[3:24] hold a public hearing so residents can

[3:26] share their knowledge and ideas. We

[3:28] should also make better use of our town

[3:30] historians. They have dedicated

[3:32] themselves for preserving Talin's

[3:34] history and we should cherish that

[3:36] knowledge and draw upon it when making

[3:38] decisions about names that will become

[3:40] part of our historical record. We have

[3:43] more than sorry we have more than 300

[3:46] years of Taland history. Let's preserve

[3:48] those connections, listen to our

[3:50] residents, and let the names of our

[3:51] public places tell story.

[3:53] >> Thank you.

[3:56] >> I will go online. If you'd like to

[3:59] speak, please raise your Zoom hand.

[4:05] Seeing none, I'll go back to the room.

[4:11] See, I'll go online. Anyone who would

[4:14] like to participate, please raise your

[4:16] Zoom hand.

[4:20] Back to the room for a final time for

[4:22] public participation.

[4:26] and back online. Last call for public

[4:28] participation. Please raise your Zoom

[4:30] hand.

[4:34] Seeing none, we'll close public uh

[4:36] petitions and uh there are no public

[4:38] hearing items, so we'll move right into

[4:40] reports of boards and committees

[4:42] responsible to the council. Um

[4:46] the firehouse subcommittee, any update

[4:48] there?

[4:49] >> We are having a we just talked about

[4:52] this. We're having a pre-construction

[4:53] meeting on the 14th, which is next

[4:55] Monday next week. Um, so we'll be having

[4:59] more report after we go through that

[5:01] meeting that is Monday afternoon. So,

[5:04] >> thank you.

[5:06] Um,

[5:07] Brian, contaminated wells, anything or

[5:11] any movement in terms of um the funding

[5:14] from the state when that might get

[5:15] working for the vineyards?

[5:17] >> No change at this point.

[5:18] >> Okay. We are there was some issue with

[5:21] water

[5:22] quality in the Lake View Heights. Um I

[5:25] met with the DPW director about uh

[5:28] cleaning out the catch basins um ceiling

[5:30] cracks. Um where are they in the paving

[5:32] schedule? We'll look at that um moving

[5:33] forward. The standard stuff that we had

[5:34] done in the vineyards um years prior to

[5:37] show that we're doing our part on the uh

[5:41] least the runoff of the roads. Um has uh

[5:45] our consultant uh have they did they

[5:47] test them?

[5:48] >> They they tested there was new results

[5:50] they've been given to Langden. At some

[5:51] point you might expect um Mike to come

[5:53] forward uh with this budgeting questions

[5:55] in relation to that.

[5:56] >> Okay. Thank you.

[5:57] >> Yep. Um

[6:00] Crag Ehd that kind of thing.

[6:03] >> Sure. um CCM um we went over some of the legislative uh items that they're

[6:09] looking at uh of highlight today was u

[6:13] state support for warming and cooling

[6:14] centers. We look at a town like Taland.

[6:16] Uh we have really neither after hours.

[6:18] We have the senior center, we have the

[6:20] library when they're open. Um there

[6:22] would be funding they're trying to get

[6:24] funding for after hours if something

[6:26] were to happen. Uh that being said, we

[6:29] have at times sent John or someone to

[6:32] the senior center. um and 0.0 people

[6:35] have showed up um for that. Um so it's iffy how far CCM is going to take

[6:41] it. Other towns seem to echo what we

[6:42] said. You know, the cities are are a

[6:44] different uh different uh situation than

[6:47] we're in. However, uh we talked about

[6:49] the uh everyone in the state is

[6:52] concerned with the uh ambulance and fire

[6:56] vehicles, fire trucks, and the length of

[6:58] time and cost it is to do it. and

[7:00] forever. I sat here for years and said

[7:02] it's John and said it's you COVID and

[7:05] supply chain and now um it looks like

[7:08] that these conglomerates have bought up

[7:10] and hedge funds have bought up all the

[7:12] places. Uh basically creating a

[7:14] monopoly. Um a $1.4 million firet truck

[7:18] a few years ago is now 2.4. Um and four

[7:21] years out for um a fire truck and three

[7:24] for an ambulance is what they were

[7:26] looking at. uh today looking at the

[7:27] state for some uh remedies with that. Um

[7:30] there was some social media stuff in

[7:32] regards to law enforcement but nothing

[7:34] that would affect Taland so much and

[7:36] some talk about again block cameras

[7:37] again not affecting talent. Uh CCM I

[7:40] talked about the salary survey. Uh we we

[7:42] had a meeting um and they are also

[7:45] offering uh AI training and local

[7:48] government uh for uh staff. So I'll I'll

[7:51] be floating that out to some uh

[7:52] different people. Uh and then they

[7:54] talked about shared dispatching dispatch

[7:56] services. They talked about um

[8:00] uh regionalizing fire and ambulance, but

[8:02] after what we went through with just

[8:03] trying to regionalize one and a half dog

[8:05] wardens with three towns, um I can't

[8:07] imagine I don't know how they could ever

[8:09] anyone could ever regionalize. Um it's

[8:11] going to be quite a process. I

[8:13] completely embrace it. I wish we had a

[8:15] regional fire and ambulance um and would

[8:18] look for some um different things moving

[8:19] forward. But uh that's it for CCM and

[8:22] Croc. Any questions?

[8:26] >> U just one thing um because we were we

[8:28] talked about this in the executive

[8:30] session a little bit. Um in terms of

[8:33] town employee salaries and how they

[8:35] compare to CC and they put out the

[8:38] average list where what do our employees

[8:40] on average?

[8:41] >> We are we are consistently in darn near

[8:43] every position um near the bottom end uh

[8:46] at best

[8:48] average in one or two but everything in

[8:50] the bottom end.

[8:51] >> Okay. And then one thing that the the

[8:53] vice chair brought I thought was a good

[8:54] point that I want to make sure we

[8:56] emphasize now and again in the budget.

[8:58] So town halls closed on Fridays. Um but

[9:02] do our employees in the four days that

[9:04] they work do they still work a full like

[9:05] 40hour work week? It is a 40hour work

[9:07] week. Um, and the the town hall opens up

[9:11] um at 8:00 a.m. and closes at 4:30 on uh

[9:16] Monday through Wednesday and then 8:00

[9:19] a.m. till 7:30 uh Monday through um I'm

[9:23] sorry on Thursdays

[9:24] >> Tuesday.

[9:26] >> Yes. Jesus. That's okay. The point the

[9:29] point is and and Randy made this earlier

[9:32] and I thought it was a good one that

[9:34] well one you know our employees are

[9:36] certainly um paid on like the lower end

[9:39] of of what what towns are doing but

[9:41] they're also still working 40 hours so

[9:42] it's not as though you know they're

[9:43] getting it's a reduced work schedule. So

[9:46] um I just want to make that make sure

[9:47] that point's clear because I think

[9:48] that's important to know

[9:49] >> if you go downstairs all the offices are

[9:51] full right now. People are still here.

[9:53] >> Yeah. I do think it's great for people

[9:55] being able to access the town, you know,

[9:57] when they're not working, that kind of

[9:58] thing. So, I think that's good.

[10:00] >> Thank you, Brian. Um, reports and

[10:04] reports of boards and committees

[10:05] responsible to the council. Um,

[10:07] councelor Dar.

[10:09] >> So, board of ed.

[10:11] >> Sure.

[10:11] >> Certainly. Um, the last meeting was on,

[10:14] uh, August 26th. It was kind of neat.

[10:16] They had their student rep was there

[10:18] even though classes hadn't started yet.

[10:21] um but she reported out on link and if

[10:23] anyone knows what doesn't know what that

[10:24] is it's really cool program where

[10:26] students um sign up to be link crew

[10:29] members and they're there to welcome the

[10:32] freshmen and help the freshman um get

[10:34] through uh and and know where they are.

[10:37] Um so she attended her first board of ed

[10:40] meeting without you know school being in

[10:42] session.

[10:43] >> Um the teacher negotiations are are

[10:46] still ongoing. Um, from my viewpoint,

[10:50] um, the BOE is doing a good job as

[10:53] stewards of town to work, um, with the

[10:57] to work together to to figure out the

[10:59] best possible negotiation for our

[11:01] teachers. Um, and um, with the town in

[11:08] mind, obviously. Um, and then there was

[11:10] a very long discussion on the

[11:13] superintendent goals for the year. Um

[11:16] there were about 13 different goals. Uh

[11:19] they settled on four that were primary

[11:22] goals. However, there's not one of the

[11:25] 13 goals that the superintendent can't

[11:27] work on during the year because of it's

[11:29] part of his job. But the bas the four

[11:31] goals were a return on investment to

[11:33] evaluate uh school programs. Uh a

[11:36] grading assessment and review. uh they

[11:39] were discussing how um that there might

[11:42] be disparity on on ways teachers grade.

[11:46] So they wanted to make sure that's

[11:47] consistent. Um uh safety and security is

[11:50] always a priority. Um and then another

[11:53] big one was exploring uh uh and

[11:56] expanding tuition opportunities and

[11:58] trying to get others to come to our

[12:00] schools to help um pay tuition. So that

[12:04] was the the gist of it.

[12:05] >> Great. Thank you.

[12:07] >> You're welcome. Councelor Beast saw

[12:08] anything on your end?

[12:10] >> Uh, no. I do not have anything um at my

[12:13] committee's meeting on this Thursday.

[12:14] >> Got it. Councelor B.

[12:16] >> Uh, we are out of sync right now with

[12:18] planning and zoning because yesterday

[12:20] was holiday. So, their meeting will be

[12:22] next week. Um, and then uh uh committee

[12:27] on um commission on persons with

[12:28] disabilities is busy planning their uh

[12:32] because we have the harvest fest coming

[12:33] up their stair. So, they've got some

[12:35] cool things and have a list that they're

[12:36] looking forward to. Um,

[12:39] that's what I have for you right now.

[12:43] >> Thank you. As a marshall,

[12:45] >> just wait for the next meeting and

[12:46] hopefully it won't be cancelled.

[12:48] >> Sounds good. Thank you. Um, and next

[12:51] Wednesday I have the historic district

[12:53] commission meeting. So, I have nothing

[12:54] to update on either. Um Brian, I know uh

[12:59] since uh Council Jackson's not here

[13:00] tonight, um PCC in terms of the harvest

[13:03] fest, are they do you know in terms of

[13:04] like how they're doing planning and

[13:06] getting geared up for that? They're

[13:07] doing great. Um I met I I put set aside

[13:10] some set aside some time last week to

[13:13] sit down with Eric and Dr. Jackson and

[13:16] go over uh so many things PCC especially

[13:19] the harvest fest. So they're they're in good shape. Trish lock in

[13:22] good shape.

[13:22] >> Great. Thank you.

[13:25] So that brings us to item eight, which

[13:28] is our new business. Uh 8.1 is a

[13:30] consideration of resolution to declare

[13:32] the attached list of equipment as

[13:33] surplus property within the town. Brian,

[13:37] >> thank you.

[13:43] So, um you know, when I got here,

[13:47] search search previous career um looking

[13:50] at um different facilities in town uh

[13:53] and equipment. Uh there seem to be a lot

[13:55] of stagnant pieces of equipment, older

[13:57] pieces of equipment in storage areas, uh

[13:59] that needed to be cleaned out uh with

[14:02] new management um in DPW where we are

[14:05] taking again an aggressive effort. You

[14:06] saw one of these surplus sales a year or

[14:08] two ago. Uh and now you're seeing

[14:10] another one. Uh this is smaller

[14:12] equipment here um as opposed to the last

[14:15] one. Uh all uh not super expensive uh

[14:20] items. We have a surplus policy. Uh Dave

[14:24] Dro uh our assistant director in DBW is

[14:27] here if you have any questions in

[14:28] regards to the um surplus policy. We

[14:31] have any funding that we get and you can

[14:34] look at the totals. uh I asked them at

[14:37] the very last column on the right um in

[14:39] your package uh the total estimated

[14:42] value of of the items and they go from

[14:44] zero to you know low numbers here so

[14:47] it's not a big chunk of money that's

[14:48] going to end up in CNRE uh but that's

[14:50] where the the money ends up uh Dave's

[14:53] here if you have any questions uh on any

[14:55] of this stuff we've also included

[14:57] pictures of most of the items as well as

[14:59] you can so you can get a feel for them

[15:01] um these were in like container

[15:04] buildings and such around on different

[15:06] properties as we're trying to uh really

[15:08] professionalize our uh equipment and um

[15:12] management of it.

[15:15] >> Any questions?

[15:19] » What is the process andor deadline for,

[15:23] you know, putting these out for bid or

[15:26] how does that work?

[15:27] >> Go ahead, Dave. Uh so what we end up

[15:30] doing is uh we let it uh known to the

[15:33] public and we have a viewing location

[15:36] that we can have uh people come and look

[15:38] at everything in one centralized

[15:39] location. Um at that point people will

[15:42] submit sealed bids to the town manager's

[15:44] office. Um

[15:48] it's just a it's a pretty lengthy

[15:50] process and that's part of why

[15:51] everything's been tucked away. So,

[15:56] >> so what is the is is there a start and

[15:58] end date yet or not?

[16:00] >> Not currently. This is this is the

[16:02] resolution.

[16:03] >> You need to Yes, we we have to once you

[16:04] give us the green light, then I'll start

[16:06] hustling out.

[16:07] >> Yep. Gotcha.

[16:08] >> Thanks.

[16:08] >> So, we don't use something like public

[16:09] surplus because that that's kind of

[16:12] expedited the getting rid of this stuff.

[16:15] >> I thought we did use a surplus company.

[16:17] Do we?

[16:18] >> No.

[16:19] >> I know John does for his um his stuff,

[16:22] but they take a cut. the state does and

[16:24] a lot of other towns do and it just

[16:26] eliminates the middleman. Just somebody

[16:28] bids on it and then they come and pick

[16:29] it up. They got a certain amount of time

[16:30] to come get it

[16:31] >> and they take a cut.

[16:33] >> We don't like I asked Dave today, does

[16:35] anyone take a cut of this and we get we

[16:37] keep it all for ourselves if we can.

[16:38] >> Any of this stuff operational?

[16:41] >> It's border borderline. Some things will

[16:43] start and run, other things won't. But

[16:44] it's a basically as you know sight on

[16:47] scene kind of

[16:48] >> we don't let everybody go through

[16:50] everything if it runs. It's kind of just

[16:51] a a bid bid process and the highest bid

[16:54] we'll get it quicker keep it as fair as

[16:57] possible.

[16:59] >> Dave, how how successful are we at

[17:01] selling the surplus?

[17:02] >> Um, the last surplus we did, everything

[17:04] went

[17:07] » I don't remember what the exact figure

[17:09] was, but I know it was a decent amount

[17:10] and everything went

[17:12] >> That's my question. So, we're not stuck

[17:13] with it trying to dispose of it.

[17:15] >> You leave it on the side of the road.

[17:16] Yeah, that was the end of my driveway

[17:19] that was gone the next day.

[17:21] >> Um,

[17:22] >> I don't if you mentioned this already,

[17:24] Brian, I apologize. I can't remember.

[17:25] Um, what's the process for determining

[17:28] that, you know, that they should be

[17:30] declared surplus in terms of like I know

[17:32] you said some things operate, some

[17:33] things are not these things are just

[17:35] well past their useful life. Does that

[17:36] sort of

[17:38] >> Yeah.

[17:39] if they're not running anymore and it's

[17:40] going to cost more money to keep it

[17:43] running or repair it um than we we get

[17:46] rid of it like with anything. And these

[17:47] things kind of just sat for years long

[17:50] before this administration, that's for

[17:52] sure. Um and so then they bring a list

[17:55] to me and we'll go over the list. I

[17:57] would much prefer the list as many items

[18:00] as I can going to in front of you and

[18:03] going out to the public as opposed to

[18:04] saying it's not worth anything and just

[18:06] throw it out. There are things that were so rusted um that it

[18:09] wasn't even we just got rid of them. It

[18:12] was garbage. But which we are entitled

[18:15] to do, but I try to get as much as I can

[18:17] out there in the public. Some like you

[18:18] said, like he said, someone will come

[18:20] take it and give it a pull if it if it

[18:23] has compression or whatever, they'll

[18:24] take it and get it running.

[18:25] >> Yeah. Thank you.

[18:26] >> Yeah.

[18:27] >> So, so basically then if if we needed

[18:30] one of these things, we already have a

[18:32] replacement. it it's already been

[18:34] replaced at this point because most of

[18:36] what is on here has already been

[18:37] replaced and this was stuff that was

[18:39] just left and used to the end of its

[18:41] life basically.

[18:42] >> And then there probably other things are

[18:43] just obsolete and you probably don't

[18:46] need them or need replace them.

[18:49] >> Okay.

[18:51] >> So you're not looking just to follow not

[18:53] looking for any like major purchases as

[18:55] a result of

[18:56] >> none of this? No. Again, this is the all

[18:58] of this was previous to to to any of us.

[19:03] >> Thank you. Any other questions?

[19:09] I will I will entertain a motion to

[19:12] adopt the resolution as outlined in

[19:13] agenda item 8.1 uh to declare surplus um

[19:17] the items that are uh listed in the in

[19:21] our packet.

[19:23] >> So moved by councelor Duber. Is there a

[19:26] second?

[19:26] >> Second. Seconded by councelor Visaw. Is

[19:28] there any discussion?

[19:31] Uh

[19:32] nobody's hovering tonight. Uh all in

[19:34] favor say I.

[19:36] >> I. And that passes unanimously. Thank

[19:38] you.

[19:40] >> So that brings us to item 8.2

[19:41] consideration of a resolution to adopt

[19:43] uh proposed section A1 176-27 of the Tom

[19:47] Code regarding naming of town properties

[19:49] and setting of a public hearing in

[19:50] Maryland for September 22nd, 2026. Um

[19:53] I'll just provide a quick uh intro. Um

[19:58] the time manager can mention that. So we

[20:02] this came up uh in the context of naming

[20:05] the public marsh property. Um and the

[20:09] sort of decision we had discussions as a

[20:11] council previously about wanting to it

[20:14] being a good idea to create a policy to

[20:15] make sure that the way we're naming town

[20:17] properties going forward is um you know

[20:20] solicit of public input. Um and uh so we

[20:24] wanted to address that first. Um and so

[20:27] that's what's on the agenda tonight. Uh

[20:30] we have the uh a proposal. Um town

[20:35] property naming policy. Um Ryan, do you

[20:38] have anything you want to say before I

[20:39] open?

[20:40] >> Sure. Council chair, you as you know,

[20:42] you asked me to have staff put something

[20:44] together. Uh Dave had researched other

[20:47] towns. Uh was able to uh put this draft

[20:50] together. Again, just a draft as as

[20:53] clean as we could get it uh to council.

[20:55] Uh it was reviewed by our town attorney

[20:58] uh and approved to move forward. Uh if

[21:00] changes were to be made, we would again

[21:02] bring it to the the the town attorney.

[21:04] Uh that this is just to move it forward

[21:06] to uh a public hearing um in a couple

[21:10] weeks.

[21:10] >> Thank you. Um so I'll just say that I'll

[21:13] open up for discussion. Uh obviously

[21:15] there's a few different things we can

[21:17] do, right? If people are comfortable

[21:18] with as how it is, we can we can move

[21:21] forward with setting a public hearing.

[21:22] If folks have some specific changes they

[21:25] would like to see, we can always

[21:26] implement those um run it by Rick um and

[21:30] then you know decide whether we want to

[21:32] set a public hearing date now or whether

[21:34] we need to see how that's implemented.

[21:35] So uh I guess with that in mind um I'll

[21:38] open it up to any discussion or any

[21:41] anything wants to raise in terms of u

[21:44] the policy. I guess I'll say in terms of

[21:46] a brief summary, um uh as drafted uh in

[21:51] the in the packet, um the council may

[21:54] initiate a naming request or may receive

[21:57] a request to name or change the name of

[21:58] the property uh from a petition of at

[22:00] least 25 residents. Um there's some

[22:03] information about what needs to be

[22:04] included with the request. Um the

[22:06] approval process would uh include a

[22:09] setting of a public hearing within 30

[22:11] days. Um and then we the council would

[22:14] consider public input uh from the

[22:16] hearing. Um however the town council is

[22:19] not obligated to adopt a proposed name

[22:21] change. Uh four votes from the council

[22:24] is required to adopt the change. Um

[22:26] that's sort of a high level what we're

[22:27] looking at. So I'll open it up.

[22:31] >> Okay. So we we did receive a few a few

[22:34] emails on the subject and we've had

[22:36] obviously some public participation. So, looking at the policy as is to me

[22:43] it's a good framework. It's a start, but

[22:45] I don't think it necessarily answers

[22:48] some of the questions or may leave it

[22:49] too vague that we're probably in a

[22:52] similar we may be in a similar place

[22:54] moving forward if we don't come up with

[22:57] maybe more information. Um, I think what

[23:02] we want to make sure is that and I've

[23:04] got some notes here so bear with me. Um

[23:07] I think one of the things you know with

[23:08] a petition

[23:10] you know there's a 25 I don't know 26 or

[23:13] 100 or 200 or 500 matter. I'm not sure.

[23:16] Um but I think what we need to make sure

[23:19] is that whatever we do with the a

[23:21] petition that we're very clear that we

[23:23] don't that we prevent any unnecessary

[23:26] excitement over the petition being you

[23:29] know sent forward um or conflict if it's

[23:32] sent forward and it's not approved. So I

[23:34] think we need a very clear process. Um

[23:39] it talks about uh land uh property

[23:41] administered by the town council. Um

[23:45] does that include um all departments or commissions? That was just vague to

[23:51] me. Um

[23:53] we it talked about um

[23:57] the town council may initiate a naming

[24:00] or or the petition. Um but could we re

[24:04] um receive a request from a donor, for

[24:06] example, could they name it? So that

[24:08] that's not addressed. Um

[24:12] you know, we don't talk about businesses

[24:14] or political uh situations where could a

[24:18] business um name a property or not. So

[24:20] we would want to make sure that is in

[24:22] our policy. Um

[24:26] we would obviously need to understand

[24:29] how a petition would be filed and

[24:31] reviewed. Um, and then obviously do we

[24:34] consult folks that might be stewards of

[24:37] this property? For example, the

[24:39] conservation

[24:40] commission. That would make perfect

[24:43] sense. Um, you know, we asked about or one of

[24:48] the items is is reasons for proposed

[24:51] name or renaming. Um, and I think we

[24:54] need to probably establish some

[24:56] acceptable reasons. There may be reasons

[24:59] outside of that that we may need to

[25:00] consider, but I think we need to have a

[25:02] bare minimum of what we would accept.

[25:06] And then how do we evaluate that? That's

[25:09] not in this policy either.

[25:11] Um, one of the things, uh, you know, I

[25:16] it talks about a majority of four. Um,

[25:20] and I think that's fine because if we're

[25:22] going to have the same argument if it's

[25:24] five or four or whatever, I think at

[25:27] some point we the community has to

[25:29] entrust us to vote um appropriately and

[25:34] not because of our political party. Um,

[25:37] so if we're going to argue a four or a

[25:40] five, that's just basically telling

[25:42] people that we're not mature enough to

[25:44] vote appropriately, that we're more

[25:47] concerned about a number.

[25:51] Um, and that means a lot to me, by the

[25:53] way. Um,

[25:57] the other there there's people that have

[25:59] voiced uh concerns about renaming. Um,

[26:02] so we would have to establish a policy

[26:04] when something might or might not be

[26:06] appropriate to rename. And there might

[26:08] be reasons to rename a property, but it

[26:11] should be very clear what those are. Um,

[26:14] and um,

[26:18] what about competing proposals? I

[26:20] thought that was one thing, right? So

[26:22] now we have two petitions. How do we

[26:24] handle that? And then I think my last

[26:27] note here

[26:28] um is there oh I put is there a

[26:30] protection clause for example or of

[26:33] existing places you mentioned the

[26:35] different conservation areas do we

[26:37] protect places that have already been

[26:39] named so um I don't think that's exactly

[26:43] what we can just say here we need all

[26:45] those changes but I'd be more than happy

[26:47] to probably put that in writing um to

[26:50] share but those were my initial thoughts

[26:52] because um you know I took into

[26:55] consideration some some emails we've

[26:57] received today suggesting looking at

[26:59] some of the other communities and

[27:01] honestly there is no perfect policy out

[27:04] there. I looked at four different

[27:06] policies and and I would bet there's all

[27:09] conflicting information in each of them.

[27:11] Um, but I do think that we're a pretty

[27:15] smart group and I think we work pretty

[27:17] well together that we can come up with a

[27:19] policy that meets the the concerns of

[27:21] our folks. Um, because that's what we're

[27:24] doing it for.

[27:25] >> Thank you.

[27:27] >> I want to continue the dialogue, but one

[27:29] thing just um I will ask that if if

[27:31] folks have like specific ideas and

[27:33] things like that that we email it to the

[27:35] vice chair and I, you know, we can, you

[27:37] know, to get that added into, you know,

[27:39] a future proposal. But thank you. Those

[27:41] are good points. One thing I'll just

[27:42] note, um, uh, you mentioned the 25

[27:46] resident threshold. We also received an

[27:48] email today, someone suggesting like

[27:50] maybe we should select like a percentage

[27:51] of residents or something like that,

[27:53] right? Whatever that percentage is, that

[27:55] might be another way to go if we're

[27:56] concerned about, you know, what that

[27:58] what the threshold is, however we look

[28:00] at it. But that's another option.

[28:01] >> Oh, how did we get to 25?

[28:05] >> Looking at other towns.

[28:07] >> So, it's just a number that seemed

[28:09] reasonable. Yep. It was, you know, it

[28:11] started to get hairy as she said. Um

[28:14] there was it bounced the different towns

[28:16] bounced around on different topics.

[28:18] >> Yep.

[28:18] >> Um and it started to be don't let

[28:22] um great or perfect be the enemy of uh

[28:24] good,

[28:25] >> right?

[28:25] >> And and so um

[28:27] >> Yeah. Which is always

[28:28] >> And so we we scaled it down, sent it

[28:30] over to Rick, um and bounced it back. It

[28:32] just it was it was all over the place.

[28:34] >> Yeah. I'm sure. I I I I think I I saw I

[28:39] know the email you were talking about. I

[28:41] would like to think on that I think for

[28:43] a little bit. I have I share some of the

[28:45] concerns that Mary Rose identified. Um

[28:47] yeah, what do we do with competing 25

[28:49] that many? What do we do with competing

[28:51] petitions? Um and what do we do? So, and

[28:55] I I've emailed this to you guys, right?

[28:57] So in England they got bit and they

[29:00] ended up with their naval decel as

[29:02] vessel as Bodie McBoat face because

[29:04] that's what was in the public interest

[29:07] at that moment. Um and we hopefully

[29:10] would avoid that scenario here.

[29:12] >> So

[29:14] um so yeah I think it requires a little

[29:17] bit of thought.

[29:18] >> Thank you.

[29:20] >> Which I think sorry to go on that. I

[29:23] think that was why there's a clause that

[29:25] the town council does not have to accept

[29:28] it. And although that sounds crass,

[29:30] right, when the community is saying

[29:32] that,

[29:32] >> you know, we're providing our input and

[29:35] you don't you're not accepting it, it's

[29:37] not because they don't want we don't

[29:38] want to accept community input. It's to

[29:41] avoid them.

[29:46] » Yeah.

[29:47] >> Um, thank you, Mary Rose. I think a lot

[29:49] of what you said I completely agree with

[29:51] and I appreciate your you know diligence

[29:54] on putting that out. Um I personally

[29:57] when I read 25 I thought that's really

[29:59] small given that's a really small

[30:02] percentage of people especially if it's

[30:04] households and there's a couple people.

[30:06] Now you're talking about like 12

[30:07] households in the entire town. That

[30:09] seems to me not maybe to meet a

[30:12] threshold where it would be compelling.

[30:16] Um,

[30:18] I I'm not 100% sure on the four votes

[30:23] because there's a part of me that's

[30:24] like, well, why shouldn't the town the

[30:27] town council is, you know, made up of,

[30:31] you know, it could be five to two, as it

[30:33] is now, it could be four to three, what,

[30:35] but shouldn't we all agree on it? Like,

[30:37] if it's going to be truly bipartisan,

[30:40] then maybe it should be a unanimous vote

[30:42] for the entire town council. Again, this

[30:45] could be 10 years from now. We don't

[30:46] really know. But there's a part of me

[30:48] that's like I would like it to be,

[30:51] you know, unanimous in terms of

[30:55] acceptance.

[30:57] Um, I am concerned about the renaming

[31:00] and I think there should definitely be

[31:02] some parameters around that when things

[31:05] are named because, you know, someone

[31:07] donated the land or some now 25 people

[31:09] come forward and say, "Well, I want it

[31:10] named after me." Well, okay. We're not

[31:13] doing

[31:14] But, you know, and the town council can

[31:16] vote that down, but there's always that

[31:19] perception that well, you know, people

[31:22] put something forward and now it just

[31:24] gets voted down.

[31:25] >> Now you're ignoring us.

[31:26] >> You're ignoring us.

[31:26] >> You wanted you wanted an opinion, but

[31:28] now you're not.

[31:28] >> Now, you're going to ignore us. So,

[31:30] agreed. So, I think that that is um that

[31:34] definitely needs to be codified a little

[31:36] bit more, especially on the renaming

[31:39] thing. We've already had this name. like

[31:41] why are we redoing it? Um there are um

[31:47] you know some I think I mentioned before

[31:51] some you know best practices things

[31:54] about naming things after politicians,

[31:56] living people things like that that I

[31:58] think we want to

[32:01] you know be careful about and and maybe

[32:04] that is like in part of the policy. So I

[32:08] think while this is good it doesn't

[32:10] really give any guidelines like we have

[32:13] gotten a lot of uh feedback around and I

[32:17] have provided it as well like a a

[32:21] connection to the place or the you know

[32:25] land or whatever and I I feel strongly

[32:28] that that is very important. Um,

[32:31] so I would like to see maybe something

[32:34] in here that gives a little bit more

[32:36] structure to the actual process or the

[32:40] names um that that might come up. Um, so

[32:45] anyway, so those are some of my thoughts

[32:47] around it, but you know, appreciate

[32:49] everyone's and I don't I don't want to

[32:51] rush into it like I I I feel like we

[32:54] maybe rushed into the last thing and I'd

[32:57] rather not do that again.

[32:59] like take a little bit more time. Let's

[33:02] rework it. Let's put some more and then,

[33:04] you know, then put it forward. But

[33:07] again, happy to have people in town also

[33:11] have an opportunity to give us a little

[33:13] more feedback

[33:14] >> and we will Yeah. Yeah. Agree. We'll

[33:17] have the public hearing as well on it.

[33:18] So even whatever we whatever version we

[33:22] if at some point we put something to

[33:23] public hearing, we can still we could

[33:25] still, you know, make tweaks there.

[33:26] agree. Um, anything that

[33:30] >> I agree that we that it's not an

[33:32] emergency, that we should be we should

[33:34] be deliberative about this.

[33:37] >> Yeah. Yeah. All I'll say is that um

[33:39] yeah, I think it's a we have to balance

[33:42] um providing

[33:44] some actual concrete guidance to council

[33:48] to ourselves and future council right

[33:49] about what to consider while also you

[33:51] know not being so prescriptive that you

[33:54] know it's ground get done. Um so uh I

[33:58] agree with Mary Rose in terms of I think

[34:00] this is a really solid foundation to

[34:03] build on. Um, I do think that we could

[34:04] add a little bit of meat to the bones in

[34:06] terms of like a little bit more

[34:08] criteria, just some some information

[34:09] that could go on there. Um, so I guess

[34:12] what I would ask um I guess my

[34:15] recommendation would be that we um table

[34:18] this to a future meeting where if

[34:21] anybody whoever has any suggestions that

[34:23] they would like to to submit, I would

[34:25] ask that you email them to um councelor

[34:27] Baw and I um and then we can um work

[34:30] with town staff to sort of update this

[34:32] version. Um, and then once council and I

[34:36] are, you know, in a good place in terms

[34:38] of we've implemented some of these

[34:40] changes, we'll we can run it by the town

[34:42] attorney and then it'll come back again

[34:43] for discussion um, you know, further

[34:45] discussion and perhaps at that point

[34:47] setting up a public hearing. But I think

[34:48] at this point it's probably premature to

[34:50] set up a hearing on it,

[34:51] >> right?

[34:52] >> Any

[34:54] Chris, can you give me a deadline

[34:55] because I work much better that way.

[34:58] >> Uh,

[35:00] what for midnight tonight? Yeah.

[35:03] walk in the door.

[35:05] >> Um it's like by the end of this month or

[35:08] something. I don't know what what that's

[35:10] like

[35:12] three weeks.

[35:13] >> Yeah,

[35:14] >> that's just kind of arbitrary. So if

[35:16] anyone has a different idea, that's

[35:17] >> works. Yeah, I think that's fine. Two

[35:19] weeks, three weeks. Yeah.

[35:20] >> Okay. So I would say if any of the

[35:23] counselors have any changes that they

[35:25] would like to see made, email those to

[35:27] councelor Baw and I by September 29th,

[35:29] three weeks from today. Um so that way

[35:31] we can then work on getting that um you

[35:34] know potential changes incorporated and

[35:36] then we'll have another discussion here

[35:38] at a future council meeting or we'll

[35:40] have a further discussion and um you

[35:42] know consider setting a public hearing

[35:44] at that point

[35:46] >> and then maybe

[35:48] the community knows that if they want to

[35:50] give us some other feedback you know

[35:52] that that would be

[35:54] >> yeah time

[35:55] >> as all yeah as always um um welcome the

[35:58] community to either messages is or to

[36:01] come yeah to come in person the

[36:02] commission. Thank you again to the chair

[36:04] of the conservation commission for being

[36:05] here tonight. Appreciate that. Um so

[36:07] yeah, please feel free to send in any of

[36:09] those suggestions or come to a meeting

[36:10] and and provide any suggestions of

[36:12] public comment and we'll certainly take

[36:13] all of that into consideration. So uh

[36:16] obviously as as uh we've mentioned

[36:18] tonight, there's always a lot of

[36:20] different considerations to take into

[36:21] account and all that. And so the first

[36:24] step would be to have a good sound

[36:25] policy. So appreciate all the work

[36:27] that's going into that and thank you to

[36:28] town staff for putting this together. So

[36:31] we will table this to a future meeting.

[36:35] That brings us to 8.3 consideration of a

[36:37] resolution to approve the revised

[36:39] personnel policies and procedures.

[36:42] >> Thank you chair. This is just a

[36:44] housekeeping thing as a as a part of us

[36:46] switching over from an HSA uh to the

[36:48] state insurance uh as a municipality. We

[36:52] maintain personnel policies. part of our

[36:54] personnel policies had language specific

[36:56] uh to high deductible HSA. In order to

[37:00] change our personnel policies, we need a

[37:02] resolution approved by council. Uh and

[37:04] so we're changing our resolution to

[37:06] eliminate all the language um in uh in

[37:09] relation to a high deductible um health

[37:11] plan uh HSA. And so this is just you to

[37:14] approve. You see in your package there

[37:16] is a redlinined version of what language

[37:19] we are removing. Obviously, uh staff was

[37:22] made well aware of this as we went

[37:23] through the process. Uh this again is

[37:25] just a housekeeping uh step for our

[37:28] personnel policies as we like to stay on

[37:30] top of them uh as things move along. And

[37:33] uh and attached is a resolution at the

[37:35] end.

[37:37] >> Thank you. And I'll just uh mention

[37:39] again for anyone who may not pay

[37:40] attention in prior meetings. Uh Echip

[37:43] was our previous sort of um health insurer for the sort of the way

[37:49] we insured our town employees and our

[37:50] board of education employees. Um we

[37:52] worked with other towns um to to sort of

[37:55] pull together to do that. That um

[37:58] unfortunately was disbanded just because

[38:00] some other towns wanted to pursue

[38:02] different options and so the town uh was

[38:04] forced to sort of take a different

[38:05] approach in terms of health insurance.

[38:07] So that's why these changes are being

[38:09] sought. Um Brian, I I know that there's

[38:11] it's removing a lot of any reference to

[38:14] the high deductible or high high

[38:16] deductible plan. Is there anything that

[38:18] we need to add?

[38:21] >> Okay.

[38:23] >> I just have the state does not have a

[38:25] high deductible plan.

[38:27] >> I don't know if they do. We don't have

[38:28] it, but I've never heard of them having

[38:30] one.

[38:30] >> Okay. So that was what was removing the

[38:32] healthcare savings accounts and things

[38:34] like that because you don't have that as

[38:36] an option.

[38:36] >> Our personnel policies are specific to

[38:38] our um healthcare plan that we have.

[38:41] >> Thank you.

[38:43] >> Other questions?

[38:46] » I guess I should ask to get this isn't

[38:49] really specific to these changes but and

[38:50] I know we talked about this before. We

[38:52] worked with our we have a consultant or

[38:54] something like that for our health to

[38:55] determine what was the most financially

[38:58] feasible health plan moving forward. We

[39:00] worked with a consultant um Seth from I

[39:04] believe is it locked in um and uh

[39:07] through the process of of discontinuing

[39:10] EIP which again I was the only board

[39:11] member to vote against and discontinuing

[39:13] EIP. It was a great plan for Taland. Um

[39:17] but now we are have the you know we

[39:19] decided to move to the POSOS

[39:22] point of service plan. Um and uh

[39:27] we did that looking at so many different

[39:29] options uh with Seth. Uh Mike did a lot

[39:32] of Mike Wilkinson was on here too did a

[39:34] lot of research. Um we did keep Sigma uh

[39:37] in relation to dental and vision. Uh but

[39:41] we have the state for everything else.

[39:42] >> Okay. Thank you. Again, just a

[39:45] housekeeping.

[39:46] >> Thank you.

[39:47] >> Anything else?

[39:49] Any nothing else? I would entertain a

[39:53] motion to adopt the resolution agenda.3

[39:59] revisions to the town person and

[40:02] procedures.

[40:04] Moved by council. Is there a second?

[40:06] Good. Second by councelor Marshall. Is

[40:08] there any discussion?

[40:11] Seeing none, all in favor of the

[40:12] resolution say I. I. That passes

[40:15] unanimously.

[40:18] Please have no appointments to vacancies

[40:21] of the boards and commissions tonight.

[40:23] Um I'll just say as we usually do, you

[40:26] know, the town certainly relies on

[40:27] volunteers. Uh the conservation

[40:30] commission and all the other conser all

[40:31] the other commissions that we have in

[40:33] town. Uh we couldn't the town couldn't

[40:35] do a lot of what it does without the

[40:36] great volunteers. So always looking for

[40:38] uh uh volunteers for that. Sarah Beth,

[40:41] can you remind me are there any like

[40:43] particularly we really need people

[40:46] right now?

[40:46] >> Um I would say the EDC is probably a

[40:50] priority at the moment. Okay.

[40:51] >> If anybody's

[40:52] >> I have something on a couple in my town

[40:54] managers.

[40:54] >> Okay. So economic development if anybody

[40:58] would like if anyone's interested in

[40:59] that or knows somebody work for us and

[41:02] I'll talk to his town manager report

[41:04] which is next. So go ahead.

[41:06] >> All right. Thanks. All right. Well,

[41:07] while we're there, uh I had a meeting

[41:08] with the uh EDC uh last week that that I

[41:11] attended uh with our town planner. Uh I

[41:14] thank them for their work. It's

[41:16] thankless. We all at tax time are always

[41:18] talking about getting more uh business

[41:20] here, more economic development here. Um

[41:23] chair, at your uh direction, we've been

[41:25] pushing as hard as we can uh to get more

[41:28] business here in town. Uh you know, we

[41:30] hope that it's coming uh at some point.

[41:33] uh there is a vacancy that we would love

[41:34] to have uh filled on the EDC as they're

[41:36] doing uh everything they can. There are

[41:38] there is some positive uh movement and

[41:40] positive signs uh that lie ahead that

[41:42] I'm not able to uh discuss, but uh

[41:45] things do look good on the HDC, the

[41:47] historic district commission. The chair

[41:49] notified me today that she is going to

[41:51] be stepping down. Um she agreed to one

[41:53] year to do it um after, you know, there

[41:55] had been some movement. She stayed for

[41:58] two. I am so very very thankful for her

[42:01] stabilizing uh that um commission uh and

[42:04] the work that that uh they do. And so

[42:07] now we're going to have an opening

[42:08] there. She's going to work with some uh

[42:10] the rest of the the commission to come

[42:12] up with some ideas on how to move

[42:13] forward to include identifying likely

[42:16] bump up an alternate identify a new

[42:18] alternate and then uh nominate a chair

[42:21] uh her expire on the 12th of November

[42:24] and we'll try to have it done obviously

[42:26] before that like maybe even not you have

[42:28] a meeting I think this week for HDC

[42:30] coming up or next week and then it's the

[42:32] third Wednesday you said it was right

[42:34] and then so then the end of October

[42:35] hopefully they'll have that all ironed

[42:37] out. I'll work with her um through that.

[42:41] Um the SRO contract is uh moving along

[42:46] um

[42:48] should be pretty much finalized as you

[42:50] know. Uh the den has recently had an

[42:52] application come in uh for someone else

[42:55] looking to rent the place and open uh an

[42:57] adult oriented business. Um obviously

[43:00] we'll be paying attention to that. Uh

[43:02] town planner has it. We'll be looking at

[43:04] our options and working with our town

[43:05] attorney and uh zoning and looking at

[43:08] some of the things we can do. Dave, you

[43:10] had mentioned a catch basin at Mountain

[43:12] Spring and Old Post. I know it was on

[43:14] the list to get done.

[43:16] >> It did. They did they get to that one

[43:17] yet?

[43:18] >> We have not got to

[43:18] >> Okay. But it is on the list. So if

[43:21] anybody drives over the tires or

[43:25] >> bulky waste 105 on October 5th, the week

[43:29] of October 5th is the bulky waist

[43:31] pickup. Uh remember you got to make

[43:33] reservations. They're required at least

[43:35] four business days in advance for the

[43:36] free bulky waste here in town. I say

[43:38] free, we pay for it here, but free to

[43:40] our residents. There is a uh electronic

[43:43] recycling event free uh on uh the 17th

[43:46] of October from 8 to 12 uh at Talon High

[43:49] School. Uh thank you to everyone that's

[43:51] involved with that and our volunteers.

[43:52] You know, our 13 usually does a great

[43:54] job getting out and helping. Uh today is

[43:56] 98. Uh and so we our town youth services

[43:59] joins the nationwide 988 day to raise

[44:01] awareness for suicide and crisis. Uh

[44:04] anyone can call, text or chat 988

[44:06] anytime, 247 uh to get help that you

[44:09] need. It's very important.

[44:12] Our senior center uh won. They're

[44:14] joining the scarecrow contest uh this

[44:16] year. So I can't I can't wait to see

[44:18] what that is. The notables have a course

[44:20] uh September Sunday, September 13th at 2

[44:23] p.m. at our senior center. I go to that

[44:25] every year. It's fantastic. Uh but most

[44:27] importantly, I believe on September

[44:30] 22nd, uh Justin Hickeyi, the the deputy

[44:32] chief uh information officer uh for the

[44:35] state of Connecticut, security

[44:37] information officer, is going to come to

[44:38] the senior center and anyone that knows

[44:41] any seniors in town knows how

[44:42] susceptible they can be to um scams. Uh

[44:45] so he's going to work with uh them on

[44:48] identifying and how to avoid them uh and

[44:50] some help. Uh so I'm really happy that

[44:52] the senior center put that together.

[44:54] they literally cannot get enough of that

[44:56] training to our our senior population.

[44:59] Again, the uh the Economic Development

[45:01] Commission has one full-time vacancy and

[45:03] two alternate vacancies. So, they can

[45:05] reach out directly to my office for um

[45:08] information on that.

[45:11] » Can I ask a question?

[45:12] >> Yes.

[45:13] >> Alternates. What What is expected of an

[45:16] alternate on a commission?

[45:18] >> Well, if someone doesn't show up, they

[45:20] would get seated at the beginning of the

[45:21] meeting that this is not here. And

[45:23] usually they they make a motion to seat

[45:24] the alternate and the alternate seated

[45:25] and they act as just as a a regular

[45:27] member. The commitment is not great for

[45:30] uh HDC. Um there's not a lot of work to

[45:32] be done. You know, sometimes it's uh

[45:35] reviewing a lot of things like I would

[45:36] ask the economic development commission

[45:38] to say like when the state was going to

[45:40] put the facility here, what are your

[45:42] thoughts on that? Or we're going to sell

[45:44] some land to somebody in town. What are

[45:46] your thoughts on you know multiple

[45:48] people want it? who do we sell it to uh

[45:50] based on what's best for economic

[45:52] development. Rather than one of us

[45:53] making that decision, we can actually do

[45:54] it with input from the uh economic

[45:56] development commission and they're very

[45:57] good at uh doing that.

[45:59] >> So an but an alternate goes to to the

[46:02] meetings just as the same as everyone

[46:04] else. Okay.

[46:04] >> Sure. I mean you could even find out if

[46:06] they're going to be needed or not if

[46:07] they don't they don't want to attend you

[46:08] know that we're going to have full

[46:09] representation there. We don't need the

[46:11] alternates to to come if you don't if

[46:12] you have other business.

[46:14] >> But it would be nice if they were to

[46:16] fully invested. Of course. Thank you.

[46:22] » Keep going. Yes.

[46:23] >> Uh on August 31st, uh the the Hindu uh

[46:27] our Talm fire department was recognized

[46:29] by our Hindu community as a part of

[46:30] their Hindu festival called Raksha

[46:33] Bontan. I hope I got that right. Uh

[46:34] which means the protective talisman. Uh

[46:37] it's a culture culturally this festival

[46:39] originated when sisters would tie a band

[46:41] around their brother's wrist as a token

[46:43] of appreciation and love for protection.

[46:45] Uh, so I thank this this came out of one

[46:48] of our Yukon EMTs. Uh, it was her idea

[46:51] to have it and so that we they they all

[46:53] got uh got together for that ceremony. I

[46:55] can tell you as a first responder, you

[46:56] take any blessing that you can get and

[46:58] that's all I have.

[47:00] >> That's awesome.

[47:02] >> It is awesome.

[47:08] » I actually had a question. I'm sorry. Uh

[47:10] there was a at the end of the town

[47:12] manager report there was a section on

[47:15] the Connecticut State Police

[47:17] and I was looking at the chart at the

[47:20] last page when it talks about um the

[47:24] traffic stops and it talked about

[47:27] um dedicated personnel versus

[47:29] non-dedicated personnel and I just

[47:31] wanted clarification on what that meant.

[47:33] >> Sure. Uh so she what what um she's

[47:36] referring to is the the plan I'm sorry

[47:38] the uh statistical data from the

[47:40] Connecticut State Police that we get on

[47:41] a monthly basis and the form um that we created here in town that compiles

[47:48] all that data uh into some easy

[47:50] statistics when when it says on that report dedicated troopers versus

[47:54] non-dedicated troopers or dedicated CSP

[47:58] personnel versus non-dedicated CSP

[47:59] personnel dedicated means resident

[48:02] troopers

[48:03] Uh and non-dedicated means troopers just

[48:06] from the troop. Uh there was there was a

[48:08] significant increase in traffic stops

[48:10] this past month. Um one traffic stop

[48:13] last month, 22 this month by our u

[48:16] resident troopers. So uh I do thank them

[48:18] for those efforts.

[48:29] Seeing none, we will go to uh adopt your

[48:32] minutes. And we have one set of uh

[48:34] minutes to adopt which is your August

[48:36] 25th, 2026 regular meeting minutes. Um

[48:40] notwithstanding the fact that I wasn't

[48:41] here, which is currently noted in the

[48:43] minutes, one minor change I'm

[48:46] requesting. Uh I'm assuming that the

[48:48] vice chair called the meeting to order

[48:50] at 7 p.m. Not me. So uh if we could just

[48:54] insert the vice chair called that's it.

[48:59] >> Okay.

[49:02] » Uh unless

[49:05] uh any if there any other

[49:08] post changes or Okay. Uh, seeing none,

[49:13] uh, I would entertain a motion to adopt

[49:17] the August 25th, 2026 regular meeting

[49:19] minutes with the small amendment to

[49:22] Adam's vice in the first item. So moved

[49:27] by councelor Marshall. Is there a

[49:28] second?

[49:29] >> Second.

[49:30] >> Seconded by councelor Duber. Any

[49:32] discussion?

[49:34] >> I'll do a roll of call because I'm here.

[49:37] So councelor Marshall.

[49:38] >> Hi.

[49:38] >> Councelor B.

[49:39] >> Hi.

[49:40] >> Councelor Visa. I

[49:41] >> councelor Barrett

[49:42] >> I

[49:43] >> and I abstain because I wasn't here at

[49:44] the meeting. Um so that passes and those

[49:46] minutes are adopted.

[49:49] >> Um correspondence to council.

[49:52] >> Sure.

[49:53] >> Um it was a busy month or busy two weeks

[49:55] I guess more appropriate. Um we received

[49:59] two two emails just earlier today on the

[50:03] property naming policy. Um and then we

[50:07] received 15 emails in the last two weeks

[50:11] on our um soliciting of our budget

[50:16] feedback from the community. Um and then

[50:20] we received two emails um regarding the

[50:23] class size of second grade. Um but I did

[50:27] want to note like we're reading the

[50:28] emails and I think it's important people

[50:30] to understand that we do read them. if

[50:33] we're not good at getting back to

[50:34] everybody, I apologize for that. But,

[50:36] um, we do read them and, um, I think we

[50:40] take it very seriously and I do know

[50:42] that there's a lot of information in the

[50:44] budget feedback that we will hopefully

[50:47] be going through and and and being able

[50:49] to to utilize some of that information.

[50:53] >> Thank you.

[50:54] >> Um, so this is the chairperson's report

[50:56] and I'll sort of start where left off.

[50:59] Um, thank you Sarah and town staff. Um,

[51:04] I asked how staff to print out sort of

[51:05] all of the emails we've received uh in

[51:07] response to our solicitation for input

[51:09] on the budget process. Um, and so

[51:12] everyone should have a copy of that. Um,

[51:15] I'll work with uh, you know, Reie and

[51:18] the town will I think we'll probably put

[51:20] an agenda item coming up just to sort of

[51:21] discuss anything that that's come out of

[51:23] that or any changes we want to make sort

[51:24] of in the process. Um, because we do

[51:27] appreciate um, the community reaching

[51:29] out. it's always um sometimes it can be

[51:31] hard to get community input and so when

[51:33] we get it I definitely think it's

[51:34] important that we we listen and we do

[51:36] what we can to to improve the process.

[51:38] Um so appreciate all the residents who

[51:42] reached out on that and uh that will be

[51:44] on our upcoming agenda item. Uh I also

[51:47] just want to mention two other things.

[51:48] Uh this hope the school year is off to a

[51:50] good start for all the students and the

[51:51] teachers in town. Um, and the last thing

[51:54] I want to mention, uh, because I wasn't

[51:55] at the last council meeting, um, I just

[51:57] want to mention, uh, Lieutenant Governor

[52:00] Wyman, who passed away last month, uh,

[52:03] tragically. Um, she is, uh, she was a

[52:06] great, um, treasure for the state. Uh,

[52:09] really brought a lot of, um, uh, honor

[52:13] to the town given her service from the

[52:14] board of ed, to the state rep, to the

[52:16] first female controller, and as

[52:18] lieutenant governor. And so, uh,

[52:20] definitely just want to send my

[52:22] condolences to Mike, uh, and their

[52:24] family as well. Um, there the Wyman

[52:27] family as a column treasure and, uh,

[52:30] Nancy will definitely be missed. So,

[52:32] thank you. Um, with that, we'll move on

[52:36] to item 14, communications and petitions

[52:38] from council persons. Anyone has

[52:45] I want to second you. Um, thank you very

[52:47] much for putting this booklet together.

[52:49] Um, this is awesome. Um, with the

[52:51] correspondence and and I we got a lot of

[52:54] thoughtful um very thoughtful and very

[52:58] extensive communication. So, people

[52:59] really took the time to they really

[53:02] spent some time putting some

[53:04] communication together. So, I think that

[53:06] would be great if we could do an agenda

[53:08] item and have a discussion about it, get

[53:10] into the meeting, the meat of it, um, so

[53:13] that people could hear their ideas

[53:15] discussed and we could, and some things

[53:16] may need clarification, but

[53:20] that I was very heartened by the number

[53:23] of responses we got. Um, so that's

[53:27] awesome. Um

[53:30] the and and I apologize if I didn't hear

[53:33] this in your report, Brian, but I know

[53:35] we had talked about status of IT

[53:36] services given that we're not engaged

[53:39] with uh the town of South Windsor

[53:41] anymore. Are we still looking at what

[53:43] we're doing there?

[53:44] >> Yes. Uh it's still a work in progress.

[53:47] Um we have Quincy Quincy coming in SP.

[53:51] Um the contract with South Windsor is

[53:52] good through the end of October, but you

[53:54] got the meeting on Monday with Coventry.

[53:57] >> Coventry was in was also left out in the

[53:59] cold here. Um their town manager was

[54:04] more descriptive in its um discontent

[54:06] with South Windsor's communication

[54:08] through all of it um than I was. But we

[54:11] are meeting to discuss one immediate plans. Uh we met um we did

[54:17] meet with the consultant from South

[54:19] Windsor uh with our um technology

[54:24] advisory board

[54:26] >> um last week as well or it might have

[54:28] been just just before that uh moving

[54:30] forward they will be with the the uh

[54:33] Coventry at the town the Coventry town

[54:35] manager uh meeting as well moving

[54:37] forward I don't have a big appetite to

[54:40] have the shared services moving forward

[54:43] but we are likely going to share an

[54:45] employee. Um the current employee that

[54:48] we already have here in town, we would

[54:50] assume the same pay as we're already

[54:52] paying for him. Um but Coventry and us

[54:55] will now uh pay him independently here

[54:57] in town as opposed to South Windsor

[54:59] paying him uh to at least keep us

[55:01] moving. Like he's the person when your

[55:03] computer dies, he comes and fixes it,

[55:05] puts a new one up and does all that kind

[55:06] of stuff like the health desk to

[55:09] Coventry. Part of it is a portion to us.

[55:11] >> Correct. We'll work that out. how many

[55:12] hours a week and you know whatever we're

[55:14] paying now that's we have to spend uh

[55:16] you know moving forward um and then

[55:18] we'll look more holistically with the

[55:20] help of the technology advisory board

[55:21] how how far do we want to go uh in

[55:25] regards to um managing our own IT or

[55:29] working with a company like a novice or

[55:31] something along those lines. By the way,

[55:32] Novas is offering that um

[55:35] that AI training that I had mentioned

[55:37] earlier um through um CCM and I believe

[55:41] Yolita and Megan Moss are both going to

[55:43] it. But um Megan could teach the class

[55:46] on it, but she's she's going to go to

[55:48] it. But yeah, so that that is I would

[55:51] have to say our highest priority right

[55:52] now.

[55:53] >> Okay. Thank you.

[55:54] >> You know, we're in good shape. It's not

[55:55] like we're falling apart. Right.

[55:58] >> Super glad the technology our our

[56:00] advisory board is still with us and

[56:02] engaged. So that let that be a lesson to

[56:05] us.

[56:08] » Something that sit dormant for a long

[56:09] time and then all of a sudden you need

[56:11] >> we jinxed it.

[56:11] >> We tried to get rid of them.

[56:12] >> Yeah. We jinxed them.

[56:15] Uh so uh just to follow up on that, you

[56:18] um I know there'll be ongoing

[56:20] conversations about sort of like

[56:21] long-term what we want to do, but do you

[56:23] anticipate there would be like any major

[56:25] disruption in terms of like even in the

[56:26] short term we'd be able to hopefully

[56:28] contract with the same individual and

[56:30] >> yes, we're in good shape. Okay,

[56:32] >> we're not in great shape. Um but you

[56:34] know, we got capital. We're starting our

[56:36] capital budget. Sure, everyone's happy

[56:38] to jump into another budget cycle, but

[56:40] we're starting that. Um, and as you

[56:42] remember from last year, it is always a

[56:44] big chunk of that with the switches and

[56:46] such. As it turns out, we hadn't been

[56:48] getting the greatest advice um, from our

[56:51] friends in another municipal

[56:53] municipality. Um, so um, it's all things

[56:56] that we got to kind of jump on right

[56:57] away. Again, likely my greatest concern.

[56:59] >> Okay. Thank you. any other

[57:04] >> um so I would like to just second your

[57:08] condolences to the Wyman family and just

[57:11] that's you know obviously Nancy did a

[57:14] lot for the town. So just wanted to

[57:17] reiterate that. Um also want to thank

[57:21] everyone who wrote in around the budget

[57:24] process. This is this is amazing really

[57:26] honestly. I do wonder though if there's

[57:30] maybe some way we can kind of summarize

[57:33] it a little bit like because it's kind

[57:35] of a lot. We can't maybe go through each

[57:37] one of these. A lot of these

[57:40] a number of the ideas I would say

[57:42] pertain to the board of ed and really

[57:43] what is our you know oversight or what

[57:47] is our input really there? Can we just

[57:49] give them here's what we heard? Um, but

[57:53] I don't know if there's maybe I'm more

[57:56] of a numbers person or something, but

[57:57] like here's the ideas and there's five

[58:00] of these and six of those or it's just

[58:02] something to kind of narrow it down a

[58:04] little bit because I feel like it could

[58:05] get very long. Um, and I don't know who

[58:09] >> leads that charge. Um, but that was just

[58:12] one of my thoughts even before we got

[58:14] the booklet, which thank you very much

[58:15] for putting that together. Um so those

[58:18] were um a couple of the things I just

[58:21] wanted to

[58:22] >> yeah know and I'll just say I was

[58:23] speaking the same in terms of even just

[58:24] sort of like bucketing sort of like

[58:27] topics you know areas of concern that we

[58:29] could sort of talk about so it's not so

[58:30] much individual email by email but right

[58:32] here's a consistent theme that we're

[58:34] hearing right trying to get information

[58:35] out in a more easily digestible way

[58:37] right so that you know so yeah we can

[58:39] work to try to do something like that so

[58:40] that we can kind of guide the

[58:42] conversation so it's not just you know

[58:46] Any other um communications?

[58:51] Seeing none, we'll move on to our second

[58:53] public participation of the evening.

[58:55] This has a two-minute time limit. And

[58:58] so, as a reminder, just state your name

[59:00] and address for the record. And uh I'll

[59:02] start in the room. If you'd like to

[59:04] speak, please come up to the table.

[59:10] Seeing none, I will go online. If you'd

[59:12] like to speak for public participation,

[59:15] please raise your Zoom hand.

[59:22] I'll go back to the room.

[59:28] Back online.

[59:32] Last call for public participation in

[59:34] the room.

[59:37] Last call online.

[59:40] Seeing none, you will close out public

[59:42] participation. Um, is there any

[59:45] objection to adjournment?

[59:47] Seeing none, these will be adjourned at

[59:49] base here.

Tolland Town Council - September 8, 2026

Transcript